Thursday, October 29, 2009

We were so lucky to be able to take an amazing vacation to Riveria Maya Mexico! It was just the two of us (the kids stayed with the grandparents) and we got to celebrate our 6th Anniversary too! It was an absolute blast!!! Here's a few pictures!We went on a tourwith an LDS tour company and they were fantastic! We went to 3 different locations and it was just us! Miguel was one of our tour guides and we just loved him! If you're interested their website is www.almaldstours.com.

This is Ik Kil!It is a fresh water cenote (under ground sink hole) in Yucatan. It's 84' under ground with trees and roots cascading all the way down to the amazingly clear water! There's a staircase you can see in the 3rd picture that is what we jumped off! Ok...I was absolutely scared to death. It's a good 20' high and the water, while really clear, was really really dark because it's so deep! I was totally shaking in my suit but I couldn't look like a whimp so I jumped. Yes. Apparently if I was told to jump off a cliff I would.

Chitzen Itza!This archeological site was built a few hundred years after the Nephites were destroyed so it was very interesting to see resembalences in Book of Mormon times and evidences of traditions being passed down from the Book of Mormon people mixed with serious wickedness! TheMayan people were so intelligent and it was incredible to see such remarkable architecture and knowledge! The picture on the right is the "Monument to the 2000 Warriors." It is hundreds of round columns that surround a few square columns symbolizing a legend of 2000 warriors that were surrounded by a million others and survived. Sound Familiar????Ek Balam! The picture on the right is of a "white" man teaching several darker men.....ring a bell? Ek Balam was incredible! It was built during the time of the Book of Mormon and has several evidences of the Nephites and Lamanites living there. Ek Balam was only recently found so it's not a huge tourist site yet; because of that we were the only ones there! It was such a peaceful and incredible place and we were so blessed to have visited there!With Pat's appetite it was a must that we stay at an All-inclusive resort. It was a beautiful hotel and whatever we didn't drink we ate!! We ate 2 dinners every night and I had my fair-share of frozen drinks...non-alcoholic of course!

Our hotel was in the middle of the jungle so we walked this path every day to get to our room and the beach! There were always huge iguana's lounging during the day.